Underdetermination as an Epistemological Test Tube: Expounding Hidden Values of the Scientific Community

Duhem-Quine underdetermination plays a constructive role in epistemology by pinpointing the impact of non-empirical virtues or cognitive values on theory choice. Underdetermination thus contributes to illuminating the nature of scientific rationality. Scientists prefer and accept one account among empirical equivalent alternatives. The non-empirical virtues operating in science are laid open in such theory choice decisions. The latter act as an epistemological test tube in making explicit commitments to how scientific knowledge should be like

On novel facts. A discussion of criteria for non-ad-hoc-ness in the methodology of scientific research programmes

Carrier M. On novel facts. A discussion of criteria for non-ad-hoc-ness in the methodology of scientific research programmes. Zeitschrift für allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie. 1988;19(2):205-231.Das Problem, unter welchen Bedingungen eine Hypothese oder Theorienmodifikation als methodologisch akzeptabel gilt, wird in der wissenschaftheoretischen Tradition als die Frage des Ad-Hoc-Charakters von Hypothesen diskutiert. Das gleichartige Problem tritt aber auch in Lakatos' Methodologie wissenschaftlicher Forschungsprogramme auf, welche von methodologisch zulässigen Theorienänderungen die Vorhersage neuer Tatsachen, verlangt. Über diesen Begriff der neuen Tatsache und damit der Adäquatheitsbedingungen für wissenschaftliche Erklärungen hat sich eine weitgefächerte Debatte entsponnen. In diesem Papier wird der Versuch unternommen, die Forderung der unabhängigen Testbarkeit einer Hypothese, welche im Rahmen der Diskussion des Ad-hoc-Charakters von Hypothesen eine wichtige Rolle spielt, auch für die Frage der Spezifizierung von neuen Tatsachen fruchtbar zu machen. Ich argumentiere zugunsten der Bedingung, daß eine Hypothese als methodologisch akzeptabel gelten sollte, wenn sie zumindest zwei unabhängige Tatsachen erklärt. Ein derartiger Ansatz verlangt die Kennzeichnung dessen, was als eine Tatsache zu gelten hat. Die Schwierigkeit einer derartigen Kennzeichnung ist ein notorisches Problem jedes Kriteriums, das auf unabhängige Testbarkeit zielt. Eine Klärung dieses Problems wird über das Konzept der empirischen Generalisierung versucht. Als eine Tatsache im methodologischen Sinne gilt demnach ein gesetzmäßiger Zusammenhang zwischen zwei Meßgrößen. Dies erlaubt weiterführend eine Klärung des Problems, was methodologisch als ein Experiment zu werten ist, d. h. was als Reproduktion desselben und was als andersartiges Experiment gelten soll. Mit Hilfe dieser Klärungen wird unter anderem der Ad-hoc-Charakter der Lorentzschen Kontraktionshypothese sowie das Problem der Gleich- oder Verschiedenartigkeit von Michelson-Morley- und Kennedy-Thorndike-Experiment untersucht

Semantic Incommensurability and Emprical Comparability: The Case of Lorentz and Einstein

Carrier M. Semantic Incommensurability and Emprical Comparability: The Case of Lorentz and Einstein. Philosophia Scientiae. 2004;8:73-94

On the Disunity of Science or Why Psychology is not a Branch of Physics

Carrier M. On the Disunity of Science or Why Psychology is not a Branch of Physics. In: Einheit der Wissenschaften: internationales Kolloquium der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Bonn, 25. - 27. Juni 1990. Forschungsbericht, Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin ; 4. Berlin: de Gruyter; 1991: 39-59

Verwertungsdruck und Erkenntnisgewinn: Philosophische Reflexion angewandter Forschung

Carrier M. Verwertungsdruck und Erkenntnisgewinn: Philosophische Reflexion angewandter Forschung. Information Philosophie. 2005;3:7-19

Effets de la gestion liquidienne sur l’insuffisance rénale et les complications postopératoires en transplantation hépatique

La transplantation hépatique est associée à beaucoup de complications et peu d’interventions périopératoires ont été démontrées efficaces pour en diminuer le risque. La gestion liquidienne est un aspect critique des soins périopératoires en chirurgie majeure et son rôle a surtout été exploré en chirurgies majeures autres que la transplantation hépatique. Nous avons procédé à une revue systématique de la littérature et à une étude de cohorte rétrospective afin de mieux définir les effets de gestion liquidienne sur l’incidence d’insuffisance rénale aiguë et sur d’autres complications en transplantation hépatique. Toute étude comparant une stratégie liquidienne restrictive à une stratégie plus libérale et évaluant au moins une complication postopératoire ou la mortalité a été incluse. Sept essais cliniques ont été inclus. Le type de stratégie liquidienne n’avait aucun effet sur le risque d’insuffisance rénale aiguë, mais une stratégie restrictive intraopératoire était possiblement associée à une diminution des saignements intraopératoires, des complications pulmonaires, de la durée de l’assistance respiratoire mécanique et de la durée de séjour à l’unité des soins intensifs, bien que la qualité des données fût limitée. Une étude de cohorte rétrospective a ensuite été réalisée chez 528 patients ayant reçu une transplantation hépatique au CHUM entre juillet 2008 et décembre 2017 afin d’évaluer l’effet du bilan liquidien sur les complications postopératoires. Après ajustement statistique pour plusieurs facteurs de confusion, nous constatons que le bilan liquidien n’était pas associé au risque d’insuffisance rénale aiguë, mais qu’un bilan plus élevé était possiblement associé à une augmentation du temps jusqu’à l’extubation et à une diminution de la survie. Ainsi, un bilan liquidien intraopératoire moins élevé ou une stratégie de gestion liquidienne intraopératoire plus restrictive semblent associés à une diminution des complications pulmonaires, de la durée de l’assistance respiratoire mécanique et de la mortalité. Cette association doit être plus amplement étudiée.Liver transplantation is associated with many complications and few perioperative interventions have been shown effective to reduce this risk. Fluid management is a critical aspect of perioperative care in major surgery and its role has mainly been explored in major surgery excluding liver transplantation. We conducted a systematic review and a retrospective cohort study to better define the effects of fluid management on the incidence of acute kidney injury and other complications in liver transplantation. A systematic search of the literature was carried out. Any study comparing a restrictive fluid strategy to a more liberal one and measuring at least one postoperative complication or mortality was included. Seven clinical trials were included. The fluid strategy had no effect on the risk of developing postoperative acute kidney injury, but an intraoperative restrictive fluid management strategy was possibly associated with decreased intraoperative bleeding, pulmonary complications, duration of mechanical ventilation and intensive care length of stay. However, the level of certainty was either low or very low. A retrospective cohort study was then conducted in 528 patients who received a liver transplantation at the CHUM between July 2008 and December 2017 to evaluate the effects of fluid balance on postoperative complications. After statistical adjustment for many confounding factors, fluid balance was not associated with the risk of acute kidney injury, but a higher fluid balance was associated with an increased time before extubation and a reduced survival. Thus, a lower intraoperative fluid balance or a more restrictive intraoperative fluid management strategy appeared to be associated with decreased pulmonary complications, duration of mechanical ventilation and mortality. This association needs to be further explored

Semantic Incommensurability and Empirical Comparability: The Case of Lorentz and Einstein

L’incommensurabilité sémantique est comprise comme la non-traduisibilité de concepts appartenant à différentes théories. L’objectif de l’article est de proposer une reconstruction rationnelle de la notion d’incommensurabilité qui sous-tend les écrits de Feyerabend et du dernier Kuhn. L’incommensurabilité, prétend-on, peut être reconstruite sur cette base en tant que notion cohérente, et des exemples pertinents peuvent en être donnés. L’impossibilité de la traduction entre concepts incommensurables provient de l’impossibilité de satisfaire conjointement deux conditions d’adéquation que la théorie contextuelle de la signification impose aux traductions. Les analogues conceptuels potentiels s’avèrent, soit ne pas préserver les conditions d’application, soit ne pas reproduire les relations inférentielles pertinentes. L’incommensurabilité est ainsi construite comme le résultat d’un type particulier de relations conceptuelles produit par l’incompatibilité des théories correspondantes. Ces relations conceptuelles sont suffisamment étroites pour rendre possible une comparaison empirique des assertions théoriques pertinentes. L’article s’efforce de rendre ces thèses plausibles en développant des exemples tirés de l’électrodynamique classique et de la relativité spéciale.Semantic incommensurability is understood as non-translatability of concepts taken from different theories. My aim is to give a rational reconstruction of the notion of incommensurability underlying the writings of Feyerabend and the later Kuhn. I claim that incommensurability can be reconstructed on this basis as a coherent conception and that relevant instances can be identified. The translation failure between incommensurable concepts arises from the impossibility to jointly fulfil two conditions of adequacy that the context theory of meaning places on translations. Potential conceptual analogues either fail to preserve the conditions of application or to reproduce the relevant inferential relations. Incommensurability is thus construed as the result of a particular type of conceptual relations which is produced by the incompatibility of the pertinent theories. These conceptual relations are sufficiently tight to make an empirical comparison of the relevant theoretical assertions possible. I try to make these claims plausible by elaborating examples from classical electrodynamics and special relativity

Optimally Distributed Receiver Placements Versus an Environmentally Aware Source: New England Shelf Break Acoustics Signals and Noise Experiment

This article describes the results of the Spring of 2021 New England Shelf Break Acoustics (NESBA) Signals and Noise experiment as they pertain to the optimization of a field of passive receivers versus an environmentally aware source with end-state goals. A discrete optimization has been designed and used to demonstrate providing an acoustic system operator with actionable guidance relating to optimally distributed receiver locations and depths and likely mean source detection times and associated uncertainties as a function of source and receiver levels of environmental awareness. The uncertainties considered here are those due to the imperfect spatial and temporal sensing of the water column, ambient noise (AN), and the seabed, and the impact this has on ocean forecasting and acoustic performance prediction accuracy. As a part of the NESBA experiment, high-resolution (1 km spatial) regional Navy Coastal Ocean Model ensemble forecasts were generated to capture oceanographic variability and uncertainty. Passive AN-based seabed measurements were conducted to estimate seabed properties including variability and uncertainty. Extensive AN and conductivity, temperature, and depth measurements were also conducted. In this article, operationally relevant metrics are employed to estimate the potential value-added of optimal receiver location and depth placements as a function of source end-state goals and assumed level of environmental awareness. A concept for generating stochastic acoustic prediction metrics and associated optimally distributed receiver locations and depths in an operational environment is proposed

Evolutionary change and lawlikeness: Beatty on biological generalizations

Carrier M. Evolutionary change and lawlikeness: Beatty on biological generalizations. In: Wolters G, ed. Concepts, theories, and rationality in the biological sciences: the second Pittsburgh-Konstanz Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, October 1 - 4, 1993. Pittsburgh-Konstanz series in the philosophy and history of science ; 3. Konstanz: Univ.-Verl. Konstanz; 1995: 83-97

G-quadruplex located in the 5’UTR of the BAG-1 mRNA affects both its cap-dependent and cap-independent translation through global secondary structure maintenance

Abstract: The anti-apoptotic BAG-1 protein isoforms are known to be overexpressed in colorectal tumors and are considered to be potential therapeutic targets. The isoforms are derived fromalternative translation initiations occuring at four in-frame start codons of a single mRNA transcript. Its 5'UTR also contains an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) regulating the capindependent translation of the transcript. An RNA Gquadruplex (rG4) is located at the 5'end of the BAG- 1 5'UTR, upstream of the known cis-regulatory elements. Herein, we observed that the expression of BAG-1 isoforms is post-transcriptionally regulated in colorectal cancer cells and tumors, and that stabilisation of the rG4 by small molecules ligands reduces the expression of endogenous BAG-1 isoforms. We demonstrated a critical role for the rG4 in the control of both cap-dependent and independent translation of the BAG-1 mRNA in colorectal cancer cells. Additionally, we found an upstream ORF that also represses BAG-1 mRNA translation. The structural probing of the complete 5'UTR showed that the rG4 acts as a steric block which controls the initiation of translation at each start codon of the transcript and also maintains the global 5'UTR secondary structure required for IRES-dependent translation